Tool for sharpening ice skates



Sept. 12, 1961 R. R- BRATTON TOOL FOR SHARPENING ICE SKATES Filed April 29, 1959 INVENTOR. fvay ff flraf/arr BY ff v 4 M Aim/way.

United States Patent 2,999,402 TOOL FDR SHARPENING ICE SKATES Roy R. Bratton, Rte. 4, Lees Summit, Mo. Filed Apr. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 809,688 Claims. (Cl. 76-83) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in ice skate sharpening tools, and has particular reference to a hand-operated portable tool for this purpose.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a tool of the character described which will sharpen skates quickly and accurately with hand power only, and which will impart to the skate blade a transverse concave curvature such as is commonly employed.

Another object is the provision, in a tool of the character described, of novel means for supporting and guiding the cutting member accurately with respect to the skate blade, and which is adjustable to accommodate blades of a wide variety of thicknesses.

Other objects are simplicity and economy of construction, efliciency and dependability of operation, ease and convenience of usage, and long life without sharpening or other servicing.

With these objects in view, as well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specifications, reference will be had to the drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an ice skate sharpening tool embodying the present invention, shown in operative relationship to the blade of an ice skate.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken on line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IIIIII of FIG. 2, with parts left in elevation, and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are sectional views taken respectively on lines IV-IV, VV and VIVI of FIG. 3.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 applies generally in FIG. 1 to an ice skate shown only fragmentan'ly, being illustrated in an inverted position with its blade indicated at 4. The tool forming the subject matter of the present invention is indicated generally by the numeral 6, and includes a short stub shaft 8 which in use is disposed substantially parallel to the edge of blade 4 and which serves as a frame which carries the operative parts of the tool. At one end, said shaft is angled upwardly and has afiixed thereto a handle 10 by means of which the tool is manipulated. A Shoulder 12 is formed on the shaft adjacent the angle thereof, said shoulder facing forwardly toward the free end of the shaft.

Mounted axially on shaft 8 abutting shoulder 12 and welded or otherwise aifixed thereto, is a planar disc 14 the forward face of which has a plurality of radially extending grooves 16, said grooves as shown being six in number and equally spaced around the circumference of the disc. Just forwardly of disc 14, a pair of guide discs 18 and 20 are mounted axially for rotation on shaft 8. Each of said discs has a series of angularly spaced apart notches 22 formed in the edge thereof, said notches extending radially inwardly from the peripheries of said discs. It will be seen that these notches are of graduated widths, corresponding to the different blade thicknesses commonly employed in ice skates. Generally speaking, the wider notches are formed in disc 18, and the 'narrower notches are formed in disc 29. However, for a reason which will presently appear, one of the notches in disc 20 must be at least as wide as the widest notch in disc 18. The notch in disc 20 referred to is further identified by the numeral 24.

The rearward face of disc 18 is provided with a radially extending rib 26 which engages selectively in any one of the grooves 16 of disc 14, as shown in FIG. 3, whereby ice any of the notches 22 may be indexed accurately in a position vertically beneath shaft 8. The forward face of disc 18 is formed to present a series of radially extending grooves 28 in the form of a rosette, and the rearward face of disc 20 is formed with a radially extending raised rib 30 which engages selectively in any one of grooves 28, whereby any one of notches 22 of disc 20 may be indexed in a position directly beneath shaft 8. When disc 18 has six notches and disc 20 has eight notches, as shown, grooves 28 must be provided at fifteen degree intervals in order that any pair of notches of the two discs may be indexed vertically beneath shaft 8. However, it will be readily understood that the discs may be provided with any desired number of notches, and the grooves 16 and 28 of discs 14 and 18 disposed accordingly.

Just forwardly of disc 20, a cutter wheel 32 is disposed axially for rotation on shaft 8. Said cutter wheel is circular, having a radius corresponding to the radius of transverse curvature to which it is desired to cut the skate blade 4, and has generally helical teeth generated on the surface thereof, in the manner of a file. Also, the toothed face of the wheel is curved transversely in a convex form as shown, for a purpose which will presently appear. The cutter wheel is formed of a very high-quality cutting compound such as tungsten carbide or other suitable material. Since such materials are relatively costly, the cutter wheel is in the interests of economy, formed of an annular ring of the cutting compound press-fitted on a core 34 of relatively inexpensive metal. One or more washers 36 are carried on shaft 8 forwardly of cutter wheel 32, and a clamping nut 38 is threaded on the shaft forwardly of the washers. As the extreme forward end of the shaft, a lock nut 40 is fixed on the shaft in spaced relation from nut 38. The indexing disc 14 is provided with a pair of guard arms 42 integral therewith and extending downwardly therefrom in divergent relation, each of said arms terminating in a ball formation 44.

In use, clamping nut 38, which is provided with an operating handle 46 for convenience, is first loosened sufiiciently to permit discs 18 and 20 to be moved axially on shaft 8 to free ribs 26 and 30 thereof from their grooves, whereby said discs may be rotated on the shaft. They are turned until the notch 22 of one of said discs corresponding to the thickness of the skate blade 4 to be sharpened is disposed vertically beneath the shaft 8, and the other disc is turned until a notch 22 thereof wider than the notch just referred to is disposed vertically beneath the shaft. Nut 38 is then tightened. This engages rib 26 of disc 18 in one of the grooves 16 of disc 14, and engages rib 3! of disc 20 in one of the grooves 28of disc 18, thereby securing discs 18 and 29 against rotation, as Well as cutter wheel 32. The notch 22 directly beneath shaft 8 is then fitted over the skate blade 4 as shown, it being understood that the notch fits snugly but slidably over the blade. The cutter wheel 32 then rests on the blade edge as shown, and the tool is drawn longitudinally along the blade while pressing it against the blade with considerable force. The cutter wheel is there,- by caused to cut metal from the skate blade to sharpen the same with the desired contour, the circular curvature of the cutter wheel forming the blade edge with a concave transverse curvature. The transversely convex cur vature of the cutter wheel makes said wheel properly operative even though the shaft 8 may not be supported exactly parallel to the blade edge, but may be tilted slightly in the plane of the blade. This feature adapts the tool particularly for manual use.

It will be seen that each time nut 32 is loosened for the setting of guide discs 18 and 20, there will result a random rotation of said wheel so that a different portion of the periphery thereof will be disposed operatively in a position directly beneath the shaft. This distributes the wear of the wheel evenly over the entire periphery, and greatly lengthens the life of the tool. It has been found, however, not desirable that the cutter wheel be freely rotatable during actual use. The inevitable slight looseness or play incident to a rotatable mounting causes a tendency of the wheel to vibrate or chatter as it cuts, with a consequent irregular shaping of the skate blade. The washers 36 serve both to distribute the clamping force of nut 38 over a wider area of the cutter wheel 32, and also as an adjustment to prevent interference of handle 46 with the skate blade. If when nut 38 is tightened its handle projects downwardly and interferes with the skate blade, washers are added or interchanged with washers of different thicknesses until, with nut 38 tightened, the handle projects upwardly.

The indexing ribs 26 and 30 of the guide discs 18 and 20 prevent the discs from turning under the rotative friction imparted thereto by tightening nut 38, and thereby keep the notches 22 thereof in properly indexed position. The large number of skate blade thicknesses in common usage make it impossible to form notches of all the required widths in a single guide disc with the space limitations inherent in the device, and therefore a pair of discs as shown, or a larger number if desired, are incorporated. Since only one notch in one disc is utilized for a single skate, and since at the same time the skate blade must necessarily pass through a notch in each of the discs, it will be apparent that each disc must have at least one notch which is as wide or wider than the widest notch in any other disc. This is the reason in the particular tool illustrated that disc 2%, the notches 22 of which are generally narrower than the notches of disc 18, is provided with one notch 24 which is as wide as the widest notch of disc 18. The guard arms 42 serve to engage the skate blade to prevent the operator from cutting his hands on said blade in the event the guide discs 18 and 20 should become disengaged from the blade.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be readily apparent that many changes of structure and operation could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A tool for sharpening ice skates comprising a frame, a handle carried fixedly by said frame, a cutter member carried by said frame and having a radius of curvature, a plurality of guide discs carried by said frame coaxially with the radius of curvature of said cutter member and being rotatable about said axis, each of said guide discs having a plurality of notches of different widths formed in the periphery thereof in angularly spaced relation, said guide discs being disposed adjacent said cutter member whereby when a; notch of each of said discs is engaged over the edge of the blade of an ice skate, said cutter member will be disposed in operative relationship to said blade, said cutter member being operable to cut metal from said blade when moved long'tudinally relative thereto, the curvature of said cutter member forming a transversely concave curvature in said blade edge, each of said discs having at least one notch therein at least as wide as the widest notch in any other of said discs, indexing means for securing each of said guide discs releasably against rotation relative to said frame in any of a plurality of angular positions relative to said frame, whereby any notch of any disc may be brought into registering relation with any notch of any other disc and said registered notches brought into an operative position relative to said skate blade, and means for securing said indexing means against release.

2. A tool for sharpening ice skates comprising a shouldered shaft, a handle secured to said shaft, a cutter wheel carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft and having cutting teet-h formed around the periphery thereof, a plurality of guide discs in abutting relation carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft adjacent said cutter wheel, said guide discs being of larger diameter than said wheel and having radial notches of different widths formed at spaced apart intervals in edges thereof, at least one of the notches of each of said discs being at least as wide as the widest notch of any other of said discs, and releasable means securing said cutter wheel and guide discs against rotation on said shaft.

3. A tool for sharpening ice skates comprising a shouldered shaft, a handle secured to said shaft, a cutter wheel carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft and having cutting teeth formed on the periphery thereof, a guide disc carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft adjacent said cutter wheel, said disc being of larger diameter than said wheel and having radial notches of different widths formed at spaced apart intervals in the edge thereof, and a nut threaded on said shaft and operable to force said cutter wheel and guide disc against the shoulder of said shaft to secure them against rotation on said shaft.

4. A tool for sharpening ice skates comprising a shouldered shaft, a handle secured to said shaft, a cutter wheel carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft and having cutting teeth formed on the periphery thereof, a guide disc carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft adjacent said cutter wheel, said disc being of larger diameter than said wheel and having radial notches of different widths formed at spaced apart intervals in the edge thereof, interengaging portions formed respectively on said guide disc and the shoulder of said shaft whereby to index said guide disc selectively at any one of a plurality of angular positions relative to said shaft, said interengaging means being disengageable by movement of said disc axially along said shaft, and a nut threaded on said shaft and operable to prevent movement of said disc axially of said shaft.

5. A tool for sharpening ice skates comprising a shouldered shaft, a handle secured to said shaft, a cutter wheel carried coaxially for rotation on said shaft and having cutting teeth formed on the periphery thereof, a guide disc carried coaidally for rotation on said shaft adjacent said cutter wheel, said disc being of larger diameter than said wheel and having radial notches of difierent widths formed at spaced apart intervals in the edge thereof, and releasable means securing said cutter wheel and guide disc against rotation on said shaft, the peripheral cutting face of said cutter Wheel being convexly curved in a plane including the axis of said wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 457,965 Bradford Aug. 18, 1891 605,289 Hawks June 7, 1898 927,131 Dow July 6, 1909 1,604,634 Cooney Oct. 26, 1926 1,672,547 Swartz June 5, 1928- 2,327,717 Johnson Aug. 24, 1943 

